Holder for collapsible tubes



Dec. 6, 1932. I E CULLEN 1,889,885

' HOLDER FOR COLLAPSIBLE TUBES Filed May 25, 1931 I mentor fRwzsrf.CULLE/V Attorney ?atented Dec. 6, 1932 Emmett E. cunnninor sen mnso,oanmoimm nonnm non comersmnn runns Application filed May 25,

My invention relates to holders for collapsible tubes, such as tubescontaining tooth paste, shaving cream, and many other plasticsubstances. 5 The objects of this invention are: first, to

provide a holder of this class of rigid or semirigid constructionwhereby the holder may be firmly gripped and the tube easily held whilethe contents are being extracted; seclo end, to provide a container,holder, or frame into which a collapsible tube may be easily and quicklyinserted or placed and from which the tube may be easily and quickly re-W moved; third, to provide a device of this class which conformssubstantially to the contour of the tube so that the tube, containedtherein, is held against transverse and longitudinal movement withrespect thereto;

p fourth, to provide a relatively long holder havin a long and wide slotor opening at one side t rough which the advertising on the collapsibletube may be exposed and through which the thumb orother finger of thehand may be projected tor manually compressing the tube for extracting aportion of the contents thereof as desired; fifth, to provide. e. deviceof this class havin a. key in connection therewith whereby the contentsof the tube may be subjected to greater force when desired or whereb thecontents may be forced toward the ischarge end of the tube to facilitatethe extraction of thecontents with the fingers of the hand; sixth, toprovide a device of this class having it pair of legs W secured withrespect to each other at one end but separable at the opposite endsthereof to facilitate the insertion of e. collapsible tube, but in whichthe free ends or the legs are so latched together that the same are notof themselves separable when the tube is expanded by the he or for anyother reason;

. seventh, to provi e as a. whole a novelly constructed holder forcollapsible tubes eight, to

A provide a device of thisclass which is very simple and economical ofconstruction, which may be made of inexpensive materials, such aspressed aper, light metal, or the like, so that a hol er may befurnishedwith each tube, and a device of this class which isdureble, andwhich will not readsly deteriorate or 1931. Serial No. 539,110.

get out of order; and, ninth, to provide a device of this class whichforms a substantially permanent means of advertising for destructiblecollapsible tubes of plastic substances, or the like.

With these and other objects in view as will appear hereinafter, I havedevised ecollapsible. tube holder having certain novel features ofconstruction, combination and arrangement of parts and portions, as willbe hereinafter described inldetail and particularly set forth in theappended claims, reference being bad to the sccom anying drawmg and tothe characters of re erence thereon which form a part of thisapplication in which: t,

Figure l is a perspective view of my collapsible tube holder in itspreferred form of construction, showing a colla sible tube held therein,and the device held? shown by dotted lines; Fig. 2 is a longitudinalsectional view thereof taken through 22 or" Fig. i; Fig. 3 is a fulllength view of the under side of the device; Fig. 4 is a transversesectional view thereof taken through H of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is atransverse sectional view thereoi taken through 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Like characters of reference refer to similar parts and portionsthroughout the viewsof the drawing.

My holder, illustrated in the drawing, con sists essentially of twoframe members 1 end 2, a cetch 3, and e lrey The frame member 1 of myholder consists of a. circular head is which is conceive at its innerside and provided with a central hole lb, and is provided with legs 10and 1d extending to one side of the head, namely, the concave. Theleg 1cforms one side of the holder and is or a length considerably greaterthan the length of the collapsible tube to'be held by the holder. Theend of the leg 10 is secured, preferably integrally, to the head 1a, iscurved to conform to the curvature or transverse contour of thecollapsible tube, and merges from this curved portion into atsubstantially fiat cross section at the opposite or extended end of theleg 10. Thus the leg 10 conforms substany a hand,

tially to one m'de of the commercial collapsible tube when filled.

The frame member 2 forms the opposite side or opposite leg of theholder. The member 2 is preferably flat and is pivoted at one end, bymeans of a rivet 5, to the inside of the leg 1d of the frame member 1,the leg 1d being relatively short and flat. The axis of the pivotalconne'ction'between these memhers is substantially perpendicular to bothlong legs. The opposite end of the frame member 2 is offset inwardly ortoward the leg 10, as indicated by 2a. The end of the offset portion,indicated by 2b, is adapted to be posltioned substantially close to theinner side of the leg 10, and is provided with a sition with respect tothe latter, and then the member 2 is shifted about its pivotal axisuntil the free end of the member 2 is below the free end of the catch,with the lug or rirgi 2c in the groove 3a.

en desiring to place a full tube into the holder, the member 2 isshifted to one side about its pivotal axis. The ca 7 of the collapsibletube 8 is then remove from the reduced neck of the tube. The tube isthen placed against the inner side of the leg 10 and inserted with itsneck through the opening 16. The cap 7 is then screwed over the neck andthe member 2 is then shifted to its latch position.

It will be here noted that since the leg 10 is substantially channelshaped and conforms substantially to one side of the collapsible tube,this leg substantially holds the collapsible tube against transversemovement with res ect to the holder. w

t will be further noted that the leg 10 and the member 2 converge towardtheir extended ends and thus conform further to the shape of the tube.This converging of the leg 10 and the member 2 holds the head of thetube against the head of the holder, that is, holds the collapsible tubeagainst longitudinal movement with respect to the holder even thou h thecap 7 is removed from the collapsi le tube.

One of the legs of the holder, and preferably the .leg 10 of the framemember 1, is provided with a long and relatively wide 1on-- giltludinall extending slot or opening 16 t on hw oh the advertisin ont ecollapsible tu may be exposed an through which the thumb or any'otherfinger of the hand of the user is thrust for comp the col- 1,see,eee

lapsible tube and thus extracting a portion of the contents of the tubeas desired. This method of extraction of the contents may be resorted tountil substantially the whole of the contents is extracted.

In order to facilitate the extraction of the contents of the tube,particularly when the tube is considerably compressed by the fin gers ofthe hand, or when the contents have hardened to any extent, I haveprovided the key 4 above mentioned. This key is provided with alongitudinal slot 4a which is adapted to receive the flat collapsibleend of the tube, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The" key is provided with atransverse handle portion 46 at one end for rotating the key and thuswinding the flattened end of the collapsible tube upon the key andforcibly extracting the contents thereof when the cap 7 is removed, orforcing the contents against the head end of the tube so that a portionof the contents may again be extracted by the fingers.

Though I have shown and described a particular construction, combinationand arrangement of parts and portions, I do not wish to be limited tothis particular construction, combination and arrangement but desire'toinclude in the scope of my invention the construction, combination andarrangement substantially as set forth in the appended claims. 7

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is: I

1. In a holder, a substantially rigid frame comprising a rigid head anda pair of spaced apart relatively long legs extending from one side ofthe head at the opposite edges thereof, oneof said 1e being hinged tosaid head and the other rigid therewith and means for connectin theextended ends of the legs together, the older being adapted to receive acollapsible tube, having a reduced neck, longitudinall between the legsthereof,said head aving a ole for receiving the neck of the tube, one ofthe legs having a longitudinal slot adapted to receive a finger of thehand to facilitate the extraction of the contents of the tube.

2. In a holder, a substantially rigid frame comprising a rigid head anda pair of spaced apart relatively lon legs extending from one side ofthe bee at the 0 thereof, and relatively shifta edgewlse means forconnectin the extended ends of the legs together, the older beingadapted toreceive a collapsible tube, havin a reduced neck,longitudinally between the egs thereof, said head having a hole forreceiving-the neck of the tube, one of the legs having a longi tudinalslot ada ted to reeeive'a finger of the hand to he 'tate the'extractionof the contents of the tube and a key shiftable between said legs forthe end of the tube 'oppo- 180 ppsite edges.

site the neck thereof for compressing the tube. 3. In a holder of the cass described, a

' frame comprising a head having a pair of separable legs extending fromthe head and forming a channel therebetween for receiving and retaininga collapsible tube transversely, and shiftable edgewise relatively toeach other, one of the legs having a longitudinal slot intermediate itssides for receivin finger of the hand to facilitate the extraction ofthe contents of the tube.

4. In a holder of the class described, a frame comprising a head havinga pair of separable legs extendin from the head end forming a channelthere etween for receiving and retaining a collapsible tubetransversely, one of the legs having a longitudinal slot for receiving afinglfr of the hand to facilitate the extraction of t e contents of thetube, and a key positioned between the legs and over the end of the tubebetween the legs for compress in g the contents of the tube.

5. In a holder of the. class described, a frame member comprising a headhaving a long leg extending to one side thereof at one edge and having ashort leg extending to the same side at the opposite edge, a secondframe member pivotally connected at one end to the short leg and adaptedto be positioned in opposed and spaced apart relation with respect tothe long leg for receiving a collapsible tube therebetween, the secondframe member being shiftable to one side with respect to said long legto facilitate the insertion and removal of the tube therein andtherefrom the head havin a hole for receiving a reduced neck ofthe tu e,and means for detachably connectin the long leg and-thefree end of thesecon frame member together.

6. In a holder of the class described, a frame member comprising a headhaving a.

long leg extending to one side thereof at one edge and having a shortleg extending to the same side thereof at the opposite edge, a secondframe member pivotally'connected at one end to the short leg, forming asecond lon leg in opposed and spaced apart relation wit respect to thefirst long leg for receiving a collapsible tube therebetween, thepivotal connection being'on an axis substantially perpendicular to thetwo long legs, and a catch secured to the free end of one of the longlegs and open at one side and adapted to receive the free end of theother le from the open side of the catch by the shi ing of the two longlegs about their pivotal axes.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles,California, this 23rd day of May. 1931.

ERNEST E. CULLEN.

